The 'Deluxe' Elsa Costume

Here's one photo so far, of my nicer of the two Elsa costumes made this past year.
It's hard to see much detail here, but hopefully there will be more so stay tuned!

Photo by Mary Anne Butler, at Dragon Con 2014.

The wig was still sort of behaving in this photo, but I need to make a new one from a new wig base. I purchased this one and while it's ok, there are some things that could have been done differently for better effect.
Also, the bits of red you see on the bodice are the icy blue sequins reflecting the red carpet ;-)

What I've Been Up To...

Again I've been pulled away from you, dear readers, on various adventures with little time in between to post here.
Well I aim to change that today. This summer has proven to be full of Deco era events, with a bit of Victorian thrown in for good measure. Settle in folks, this is a long one.

Back in early August, I attended the Spirit Of '45 event in San Jose.
It was a great time to celebrate all the veterans of WWII, listen to some great music, get dressed up, be in a parade, shop for fabulous vintage hats, hang out in some beautiful vintage cars, and hang with good friends.

Laura and I in the ice ream parlor.

After that, the next adventure was even more glamorous.
My two best friends, Laura and Cait (of Curse Words And Crinolines) twisted my arm...well, it didn't take much twisting...to join them for a weekend aboard the Queen Mary.

It was the Annual Art Deco Festival, and everyone was dressed to the nines.
Friday afternoon had a bit of a rocky start to the weekend due to a major screw up of the hotel management, and a visiting camera crew filming a reality TV series.
After checking into our rooms, then unknowingly being checked out in the system so they could accommodate the film crew, we were finally checked *back in* and settled by early evening. We had a bite to eat then dressed for the cocktail party on the observation deck and lounge. It was the first time I wore this vintage 1930s evening dress; a cobalt blue number with silver beading on the low draped back. I pared it with a beaded silver lariat for a belt, as the original is of course missing.

 Later that evening, Laura and I ghosted around the ship in our nightgowns, on our way to the Pajama Party.
Being an old ship, there are lots of random switches and buttons, sometimes randomly located on walls and in corridors. We found one smack dab in the center of a beautiful likely-now-extinct wood veneer wall in the observation bar. Perhaps it was to call a waiter?
Would the wall flip around and expose some secret Nazi lair, a la Indiana Jones?
I was tempted to press the inviting little ivory button in its unlabeled brass plate to see if anything happened. I didn't do it....but there's always next year....

Saturday we strolled about, met up with more friends old and new, and checked out the vendor areas. We spied some black satin knickers embroidered with an amusingly steadfast phrase.

Before getting ready for the Grand Ball, Cait, Michael and I enjoyed the late afternoon lounging on the upper deck.

Once we were in all our finery, we gathered in one of the smaller event areas for cocktails before they opened the doors to the grand ballroom.

 

The Three Musketeers!

Dinner was amazing, and consisted of multiple courses. The live music, featuring Dean Mora of Mora's Modern Rythmists was stellar.
The three of us girls wore midnight blue; Cait and Laura in blue velvet and yours truly in shimmering blue sequined net.

 Of course, between dinner, desert and dances, hilarious hijinks ensued in the hallways, as per tradition...

 Like a scene out of 'The Women'.

 Left to right:

 Autumn Adamme, Dan'a, Cait, Patricia 

Lippert, Annamarie Von Firley, Me, Laura and Lily Mansfield center floor.

To wind down the evening, we retired to the observation lounge for a special treat.
The after-party was a one-night-only reproduction of how the lounge looked on the night of the Queen Mary's maiden voyage in 1936; The Starlight Lounge.
They brought out and set up all the original tables, chairs, china, silverware, linens, menus and star-scattered drapes on the windows.
The story goes is that they drew those heavy velvet drapes against the coming daylight, and literally danced past dawn while the band played until 7am.
In the years that followed, the restaurant lounge became a highly sought after place to dine and drink while traveling aboard the ship, and reservations were often fully booked 2 years out.
Once again, the band played until the wee hours, and I did a few turns on the dance floor until my poor feet begged for mercy.

Time warp.

 Next on the agenda, was the Sunday tea dance, and we all donned our Sunday best, for tasty treats and savory tea. I pulled out my vintage mid 1930s organdy striped dress and a little black straw hat, while Laura donned a crisp white summer dress and borrowed my burgundy hat. It paired well with the new garnet jewelry she bought during the weekend.

Fashion plate poses: Laura with her fabulous new shoes!

Goofing off with Cait...

 As an end to the weekend, Sunday night found us all gathered together at Sir Winston's; an amazing restaurant also aboard the QM.

 Many thanks to Annamarie and her husband David (seated at the far right) for a wonderful dinner and the perfect end to a lovely weekend with friends.

 Again with the buttons and little flicky switches! 

This time, Laura got brave and actually FLICKED ONE!
It did nothing, which was way more exciting, since we imagine it probably did something somewhere! We ran giggling, like two prank-crazed schoolgirls, down the hall a few doors to our room.

It was hard to leave the next day. It was as though the clock was striking midnight and my glass slippers were changing back to little black flats.

Fast forward to the next weekend:...

And Now For Something Completely Different!

While we're on the subject of personal sewing projects, this is what I've been working on over the last few days. Yes, it's a sci-fi costume and for those who might know what they are looking at...it's Star Trek related.
Never in my life did I ever think I'd delve into the world of the Trekkie, but there's a first time for everything, right?
I'm personally not that interested in Star Trek, and would never consider myself remotely the Trekkie type. But I somehow LOVE the kitsch of the classic 60's Star Trek series. It's like Mad Men in space; everyone looks fabulous, their hair is perfect and so are their clothes, they are breaking rules and getting laid. Constantly...well...at least Captain Kirk is ;-D

So what is this insanity I am working on?
My fiance and another friend of ours were at a loss as to what to do this year for the local annual sci-fi convention (BayCon). We jumped at the idea of doing classic Star Trek, because everyone else does the modern version...and we wanted something that was ever so slightly obscure. Or characters that, while recognizable upon sight, were rarely seen in the early series;
Romulans.

Romulans were the balance between the ultra war-like Klingons and the ultra logical Vulcans. Needless to say, I'm playing the female Romulan Commander. I get to woo Spock and watch Kirk go mad, all while wearing pointy ears, crazy eyebrows and the shortest dress possible. So awesome.

Here is my version of the dress so far. I have yet to hem the skirt to the final length, since I haven't even put the sleeves or the back sections of the dress on. Once all the layers are in place and fitted properly, I'll hem it.
I'm using a light weight rayon stretch suiting material for the dress itself (both the black and red sections are the same fabric), and a large fishnet that is layered over the black. This black mesh is getting a few coats of metallic spray fabric paint before being pieced onto most of the dress shell.
The red sections are also getting a paint job with a stencil to create the triangle pattern on the right sleeve, bodice front and sashes. I'm not using a pattern for the dress, and just draping on my dress form. The only pattern I'm using as a guide is for the sleeves.

While it is a 4-way stretch, I still need to put darts in the mesh for the two back pieces to keep it from bunching at the waist. My back has a bit more curve inward. These will be painted a metallic pewter tomorrow, then layered over the matching solid black pieces:

I'll post photos when it's complete. I'm really looking forward to this event, in all its silly geek glory.

When the hours drag...

Some of you that follow me on Facebook may have already seen my posts about this, but I thought I'd mention is here as well.

Uaually, I'm not one for the 'Dollz' or avatar makers.
This one however, caught my eye over at Fuchsia's 18th Century Dress blog.

After a few really slow days at the shoe boutique, this fun little dress up doll made the time waiting for customers fly by.
While still very cartoony, these gals have some pretty accurate designs in their wardrobe. I especially like the zone front bodice ;-)
Here are a couple (of many) that I made...

...my only complaint really, is you can't change their pose.





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